38 comentarios:

Some young riders are getting decent results in the Enduro World Series on this 29er. It is unquestionably a very well designed bike. It could easily be used as an XC full suspension bike with very few disadvantages compared to more purpose built XC FS bikes, but with the advantage of extra travel - LT XC!

The bike will probably attract the attention of the litigious Dave Weagle, however.

I know, I did four models and it was always around 140-141mm. The shock can't be a 216x63 and I don't think they have a custom 200x60 or something like that, so there is something going on. Rounding up a couple of milimiters is ok, but this is a bit too much...

There is something very alluring about this bike and the revised AVP kinematics. BMC has set its eyes on the 'average' rider (neutral pedaling at SAG and declining AS thereafter for a relatively low pedal kickback experience) that both Specialized and Trek also target.

There are two ways that this market segment can be sensibly appealed to. One might go the Mondraker route and outdo the market leading Specialized/Trek bikes on pedal kickback performance while providing a similar pedaling performance. Another approach would be to improve mid-travel pedaling response while keeping pedal kickback levels close to the norm for this category of bike.

BMC is following the latter strategy and very successfully in my view. The use of well positioned dual short links ensures a consistent pedaling performance well into mid-range travel. To get completely neutral pedaling (at SAG) the 30T must be used and the same is true of the Trek Remedy 29 and Specialized Enduro 29. For a trivial (when compared to the Remedy) or small (compared to the Enduro) increase in PK you get superlative pedaling response not just at SAG but throughout the pedaling range (up to around 60% of travel more or less). That is not a performance that can be matched by the market leaders. You do get this slight increase in PK but for your trouble you also get a substantially enhanced pedaling performance.

I think BMC's approach is sound. And whether you prefer low pedal kickback or enhanced pedaling response the dual short links from Mondraker and BMC really do outperform the bikes from the market leaders.

It's really hard to say how a long travel Mondraker 29'er would be. Right now there is only a couple of XC models, with average Chainstays. But if they decide to build something with 150mm of travel and short CS everything could be different.

If you move the lower link to the front, you need to change the orientation, and that can affect to the LR so it's probably going to end up as a different system, just like what happened to BMC, the 29er has nothing to do with the 26ers...

The frame it's the same, and there is only one model with the CCDB, I think it's the perfect shock for this bike and it's too bad that it's not on all the models, but I guess they need to stay on budget.

What about CCDB vs Float X Evol or Float X with Vorsprung Corset?Am I right in guessing that the Vorsprung Corset would be a huge improvement on the Trailfox? I would guess there is not that much difference except for better tunability of the CCDB vs the Float X with Vorsprung Corset...

RS Debonair, Fox Float Evol and VR Corset air sleeves works very well in all types of bikes, but progressive to linear or progressive to regresive it's the type of LR that benefict the less with this type of shocks. It's going to be an improvement, but having a "state of the art" damper it's even better so if had to choose I would get a CCDBAir CS or a Fox X2 Air.

thanks for the answer - Well in my older IronHorse 6 Point I'm extremely disappointed with the CCDB Air CS - it simply does not work (and I even had it reshimmed at TF Tuned with request for little low speed strong high speed compression) . Low Speed Compression is too strong and High Speed Compression too little - impossible to set it up properly as they influence each other. Had a Roco TST Coil in there before (stock) that was 10x better (especially as the piggyback pressure can be adjusted for ending stroke). The CCDB Air could not even match 7 year old Van R that came with the frame. I do have to say a Roco Air TST was worse than all of them. But still - CCDB no more for me.. Float X2 - yeah looks interesting - but too expensive. And RS Debonair Plus - well I would guess it is about equal to Flox Float with Corset VR (and I would need a Normal/Low tune for the DebonAir from what I heard from others using it in the Trailfox).

I had the Pike 160 51mm mounted with -2° angleset. I love slack bikes - but really that was too much. I now use a Superstar Components 5mm reach headset (great quality, but a little heavy). That gives 1cm stack additionally - and with a 160mm Pike you would arrive around 66° headangle too. Now it's perfect for me.